should be made. The " veracitas in mente," includes the sincere purpose of doing what we promise, or of telling the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the best of our knowledge in the case in which we testify. This excludes all intention to deceive, all mental reservation, and all designed ambiguity of language. All these conditions may be present in private, as well as in judicial or official oaths.
Then again, as the design of an oath is to produce conviction of the truth, to satisfy others of our sincerity and fidelity, and to make an end of controversy, it is evident that circumstances may arise in private life, or in the intercourse of a man with his fellow-men, when an oath may be of the greatest importance. If we risk a great deal on the fidelity or veracity of a man, we have a right to bind him by the solemnity of an oath ; or if it is of great importance that others should confide in our veracity or fidelity, it may be right to give them the assurance which an oath is suited and intended to afford.
As to the Scriptural examples, by far the greater number of the oaths recorded in the Bible, and that with the implied appro- bation of God, are of a non-judicial character. Abraham swore to Abimelech. (Gen. xxi. 23.) Abraham made his servant swear to him. (Gen. xxiv. 3.) Isaac and Abimelech interchanged oaths. (Gen. xxvi. 31.) Jacob caused Joseph to swear not to bury him in Egypt, (xlvii. 31.) Joseph exacted a similar oath from his breth- ren. So we read of Davids swearing to Saul, and to Jonathan, of Jonathan's to David, and of David's to Shimei. Such private oaths seem at times to have been prescribed in the Mosaic law. In Exodus xxii. 19, it is said, if a man deliver any animal to his neighbour for safe-keeping, and it die on his hands, " then shall an oath of the Lobd be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods." In the New Testament we find the Apostle frequently appealing to God to witness to the truth of what he said (Rom. i. 9 ; Phil. i. 8 ; 1 Thess. ii. 5, 10) ; doing this also in the most formal manner, as in 2 Corin- thians i. 23, " I call God for a record upon my soul."
Augustine's rule on this subject is good : " Quantum ad me pertinet, juro ; sed quantum mihi videtur, magna necessitate com- pulsus." * The multiplicity of oaths is a great evil. The rapid and irreverent administration of them is profane.
l Sermo clxxx. 10 [ix.] ; Works, edit. Benedictines, Paris, 1837, vol. v. p. 1250, %.
812 PART m. Ch. XIX. — the law.
The Form of an Oath. Under the Old Testament, in voluntary oaths the usual form was, " The Lord do so to me, and more also." (Ruth i. 17 ; 2 Sam. iii. 9, 35 ; 1 Kings ii. 23 ; 2 Kings vi. 31.) Or simply, " As the Lord liveth." (Ruth iii. 13 ; Judges viii. 19 ; 2 Sam. ii. 27 . Jer. xxxviii. 16) ; or as it is in Jeremiah xlii. 5, " The Lord be a true and faithful witness." In judicial proceedings the oath con- sisted in a simple assent to the adjuration, which assent was ex- pressed in Hebrew by ft$R and in Greek by <™ ciTras. The form is a matter of indifference ; any form of words which implies an appeal to God as a witness is an oath. In swearing, the right hand was usually elevated towards heaven. Genesis xiv. 22, " Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth." Hence " to lift up the hand " was to swear. (See Deut. xxxii. 40 ; Ex. vi. 8 (in the Hebrew) ; Ezek. xx. 5.) Lifting up the hand was evidently intended to intimate that the juror ap- pealed to the God of heaven. Among Christians it is usual to put the hand upon the Bible, to indicate that the oath is taken in the name of the God of the Bible, and that the judgment invoked in case of perjury is that which the Bible denounces against false swearing. Kissing the Bible, another usual part of the ceremonial of an oath, is an expression of faith in the Bible as the word of God. There is nothing unseemly or superstitious in this. On the contrary, instead of appealing to the God of nature, it is most appropriate that the Christian should appeal to the God of the Bible, who, through Jesus Christ, is our reconciled God and Father.
Rules which determine the Interpretation and Obligation of an
Oath.
An oath must be interpreted according to the plain natural meaning of the words, or the sense in which they are understood by the party to whom the oath is given or by whom it is imposed. This is a plain dictate of honesty. If the juror understands the oath in a sense different from that attached to it by the party to whom it is given, the whole service is a deceit and mockery. The commander of whom Paley speaks, who swore to the garrison of a besieged town that if they surrendered, a drop of their blood should not be shed, and buried them all alive, was guilty, not only of perjury, but also of dastardly and cruel mockery. The